Media industry

The sectors

• Television• radio• film• animation• interactive media• press• photo-imaging• advertising and marketing

Types of ownership• private ownership: Owed by private companies which is the

opposite of public service• public service media: receive some of their funding from the public

through a license. In the UK the BBC is an example of public service and is paid for by a licence fee and not adverts.

• multinationals: Operates or has subsidiaries in two or more countries

• independents: Is free from government or corporate ownership• Conglomerates: A conglomerate is a combination of two or more

corporations engaged in different businesses that fall under one corporate structure. They are often large and multi national

• cross-media: where companies operate and own different media in different mediums.

Concentration of media ownership • In the past there were more media

companies who owned the media, today there are fewer than 5 main media companies that pretty much control most of the media industry these are referred to as the big 5.

• This is called media concentration or consolidation, where fewer media companies increase their share of ownership

Big 5: Main global media companies

• Time Warner• Viacom• News Corporation• Disney• Bertelsmann

Global ownership

• As of 2010, The Walt Disney Company is the world's largest media conglomerate. News Corporation Time Warner and Viacom are second, third and fourth largest[10]

In Britain• United Kingdom• In Britain Rupert Murdoch News corporation owns News of the World The

Sun, The Times and Sunday Times and 39% of satellite broadcasting network BSkyB, which is soon to increase when he buys the rest of BSkyB, who also owns a 17.5% share of ITV and 5% of Shine Limited ].

• Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) own The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday Ireland on Sunday and they also own the Metro and a lot of local media i.e subsidiary Northcliffe Media. Anything local paper which ends in Mercury is owned by them. They also own shares in ITN and GCap Media.

• Richard Desmondowns OK! Magazine, Channel 5 the Daily Express and the Daily Star.

In Film• A major film studio is a movie production

and distribution company that release a lot of films at the box-office. There are six major studios which are subsidiary's of 6 media conglomerates whose various movie production and distribution subsidiaries command approximately 90 percent of the U.S. and

• Most of today's Big Six control subsidiaries with their own distribution networks that concentrate i.e Fox Searchlight owned by (news corp).

Independent

• The six major movie studios are contrasted with smaller movie production and/or distribution companies, which are known as independents.

Examples of: Independent producer/distributors:

• Lionsgate, Summit Entertainment, (Twighlight) and The Weinstein Company.

Criticisms of media concentration

• Driven by advertising which means that the media is loyal to advertisers, governments and sponsor rather than just reporting the news.

• Bias: If the media is controlled by a few individuals how can it serve the majority.

• For instance If only two conglomerates control most of the media in that sector how can they represent different opinions and also willing to show things which criticise their advertisers.

Cost sharing

• Large companies often work together to share cost i.e. film companies work together to make films and also help distribute these films. This is also true is other sectors.

Rupert Murdoch

• Rupert Murdoch’s news corporation has been criticised for his concentrated ownership of the media, where in the UK he own a large amount. He has been criticised for being biased, and pushing his own corporate interests.

• For instance he has been criticised for pulling a book which criticised China, when News corp. was trying to land a business deal with the Chinese government.

cross-media regulation

• Media content regulation in the UK revolves primarily around codes of practice, drawn up by a variety of bodies which are either entirely or largely independent, following wide public consultation. In some cases, these codes of practice have been developed by bodies with statutory powers over the media while in others the responsible bodies have been established by the media or journalists themselves

legal

• In addition to the codes noted above, the broadcast media are also subject to a small number of specific content rules and all media are subject to laws of general application, such as those relating to defamation, obscenity and hate speech.

Print regulation

• The print media is entirely self-regulating in the United Kingdom and operates free of any specific statutory rules and is ethically run. The profession has established the Press Complaints Commission has has its own code of practice

Broadcast media regulation

• Unlike the press, broadcasting regulation in the UK is based on statute Private television and radio are regulated by OFCOM under the both Broadcasting Act 1990. These bodies have broad

• licensing powers and the governing statute requires them to establish certain codes to which licensees must conform. All TV and radio stations have to get licences from OFCOM to operate, and OFCOM has the powers to sanction broadcasters who breach license conditions.

News corps BSKYB takeover

• http://www.itn.co.uk/uk/22672/Murdoch+BSkyB+takeover+moves+closer